Host Jazzbeau

In the US (and other places). But in South America we were surprised to see people openly carrying bottles filled with water – we checked and it is allowed on domestic flights.

As to the specs of American Duchess, I was led astray by the articles on wikipedia (or by my reading of them...): American Duchess: Propulsion Steam powered stern paddle wheel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Duchess American Countess: Propulsion Paddlewheel and Z-drive (diesel electric) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Countess#cite_note-1

He got them cheap enough (under $1 million each – a lot better than the $15 million broker listing!) But without the customer list he'll have to start over from scratch. [edited to add:] Update on SeaTrade says: "an attorney for AQV parent the Hornblower Group said that because the river and lakes (coastal) vessels were part of an integrated business, certain materials were held jointly, and an adjustment of $300,000 was agreed." So the buyer of the Great Lakes ships will get the customer info. https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/finance-legal-regulatory/19m-winning-bid-aqv-coastals-court-oks-6m-sale-river-vessels

Judging by the sweetened offer on the dates all around yours (throwing in the All-in package for free), I'm guessing sales are slow. Two fully paid charters vs losing money on two cruises, with the probability that many of the affected passengers will shift onto the neighboring dates so no loss to Windstar? I know it doesn't feel good to get that treatment, but it does make business sense. And Windstar certainly is not alone in doing this.

Whenever we get a disposable bottle still made with nice thick plastic (that doesn't crinkle every time you look at it and unlike metal bottles doesn't clink with every step you take), we keep it and use it until it truly dies. After all, the second arrow in the 'recycle' logo is 'reuse'... [PS – they go through TSA just fine, as long as they're empty...]

July 18 and July 25 are showing as 'call for availability' on the website. But all the dates before and after seem bookable. Sounds more like a charter than 'out of commission' [which sounds like a seaworthiness or financial issue].

We were told 2 pm for embarkation in Auckland, but we discovered that people were already boarding at 12:30 – so we collected our luggage from the hotel and got on straightaway. If you want to have lunch in The Restaurant, try to board at noon or shortly thereafter. [La Terrazza says open later]

Every winter when we 'snow-birded' to Fairhope AL people used to ask us when we were going to move down. I reminded them of their late spring–all summer–early fall temps! As they used to say about [somewhere]: "it's a great place to visit, but you wouldn't want to live there"...

I was wondering why they paid so little for the Duchess, compared to the other ex-casino ship Countess. Duchess is 341 ft long but only holds 166 passengers; she has a steam-powered stern paddle wheel. Countess [same age, similar history] is 318 ft long but holds 245 passengers; she has a paddlewheel and diesel electric Z-drive. So I'm guessing that Duchess is uneconomical because of the low passenger to size ratio and the 'true' paddlewheel propulsion? [Hopefully somebody who knows better will either confirm or correct me...]

In the 19th Century there was a 'simplified spelling' movement in the US. As a Librarian I am well aware that our icon Melville Dewey [inventor of the Dewey Decimal System, a founder of the American Library Association, and responsible for the standardization on 3"x5" for catalog cards] started spelling his name Melvil Dui. My initial specialty was as a Cataloguer [or as I prefer to spell it, Cataloger]. So my guess is that when we in the US abbreviate a word we try to go for the shortest possible version. Of course we say 'mathematics' and pronounce the final 's'. But why not take it right down to the first syllable for shorthand? [OTOH, I believe I have read that some other English-speaking countries abbreviate economics as 'ec', while in the US we say 'econ' as in Econ 101 for freshmen. BTW this particular factoid will come in handy if you ever do a US-based crossword puzzle!]

Thanks. The T&C did say that it didn't change your T&C (cancellation penalties, etc) – so if you're early enough you can 'cancel/rebook' and take the better offer.

Great news! If we can verify that this is a fleet-wide policy change, @Grandma Cruising can add it to the Tips sticky.

And the itineraries are terrible! Only one port!!!

Can't answer directly, but when I book with Noble Caledonia (another UK-based cruise line), I can't pay through their website because of my US credit cards. So I call them via Skype and they have no problem processing the payment.

Confusion from the re-use of the term P2P? It wasn't included in the old P2P. It should be included in the new P2P because that's really just D2D w/o air.

We are now seeing a multi-year catchup on inflation by all cruise lines (and airlines). They kept prices low for as long as they could, but now the Covid debts are coming due so we're getting a double whammy. If the stock market keeps hitting new highs [I know, not this week...], people will probably continue to 'revenge travel' and just pay up. And new cruisers don't know the pre-cutback quality levels, so they'll probably accept that too.

Sorry JP, I'm with Mysty: everything about this cruise lately shouts HHH (the famous NY summer forecast: "hazy, hot and humid"). I don't leave the house then, and I wouldn't leave the ship either. I'd be sitting with Mysty at the (air-conditioned) bar, toasting her with a G&T! 😀

Even before the pandemic, our last Celebrity cruise (on the then-new Edge) was our last Celebrity cruise. So we tried moving up the RCG line to Silversea – only to find that it is now being Royal Caribbeanized! Thank God they sold Azamara, so it can stay Azamara!!!

This comment seems ironic, since the DJ profession is among the worst offenders on high db levels... 😉

Now we'll learn whether they bought them to operate them, or to make sure nobody else does... [or a little of each depending on the ship]

We can't discuss travel agents by name (or even hint) on Cruise Critic.

You could also try pricing the transfer from DayTrip.com We have used them in Italy and Portugal, and the service was very professional. Their website also shows you options of sightseeing that you can add to the transfer, and they have a range of vehicle types (we usually upgrade to the MPV class to have lots of room for our luggage).

Ponant posts new cruises with a large discount (I think it's 30%), which goes down as cabins sell and the cruise gets closer. So IME it is always better to book Ponant as soon as possible. I don't know about Paul Gauguin.

You got the "Whitman's Sampler" version, with a map? When we had it we just guessed what each piece was...

Are you referring to the 3-pre nights UNESCO Sites of Greece including Athens, Meteora and Thessaloniki? https://www.silversea.com/destinations/mediterranean-cruise/athens-piraeus-to-athens-piraeus-mo240609011.html That looks wonderful! We did something similar following a cruise that ended in Athens, only we went to Delphi instead of Thessaloniki so we could be driven back to Athens instead of flying. A real highlight of that entire trip! Details of our trip are in this blog (posts 16-18):